First day out to sites with Scott Owen

What we talked about
Scott showed our Spring 2014 group around the wetlands on 25January. He would like us to gather data to inform how a bypass running through the impounded riverine wetland will affect the structure (plants, water quality, bugs) and function (how much water it holds, about of N that can cycle, etc) so another wetland of higher quality can be preserved, or the city will pay money towards a mitigation bank that will preserve and/or restore or enhance another wetland. Because wetlands are often impacted by development, mitigation of wetlands is big business and legally contentious. Soil type (eg. gray mottled vs orange oxidized (see Ali's post below)) and plant type (facultative vs obligate) indicate if the wetland is a wetland since they typically are dry for most of the year.

Where students can sample
The students have the opportunity to sample a couple of sites that will be directly impacted by the road (this is where we talked for a long time and the site with the observation deck), an already impacted site where the powerline runs, and a site well removed from the impact of a road (we didn't actually go into that site but we looked at how to get in there from the road).

How to move ahead
Alyson asked if they would be going into the field before the proposal is done and i said no, but I think I was wrong. Students can, anytime, go ahead and get a trimble unit from me (i can show them the basics of how to use it or they can go into GIS lab and get help from Grace or Mary Sue Passe-Smith) and go find their sites and get GPS points and start looking at the map. I think we can find a data layer for the proposed road. I need a student to keep on me about this.

What students will measure
Scott was enthusiastic about all of the things students plan to measure. Josh and Kyle will need to do a little research on why they may want to collect just inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) or also total nitrogen. I need to work with them to contact someone at Audubon. Kell and Gray are going to be working with Jason Thronberry, but they should be finding resources that describe how to estimate amphibians and identifying the habitat for the amphibians. Grace, Ali, and Alyson are working on plants, macroinvertebrates, and hydrology. Ali was going to actually estimate HGM, but now it seems like just getting hydrology is really critical to all of the projects, as there will be no habitat for anything without water and understanding the extent of area that will no longer wet after the road comes in is extremely important. She also notes an interest in soils. I encourage her to think about quantifying other functions using the HGM method, like nutrient cycling or flood retention. These two things are extremely important and use extent of inundation in the equations.

I think because hydrology is so important and needs to be quantified ASAP even before students complete their proposals. The entire class should work with Ali to set up the cameras. Let's get this done as soon as we can get the cameras from Scott.